India PM Modi's home state of Gujarat goes to polls next month

FILE PHOTO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan September 16, 2022. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat will go to the polls next month, the election commission said on Thursday, a vote that is likely to offer a clue to his party's prospects in a general election due by 2024.

Modi remains popular despite criticism of inflation and unemployment, and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expects to emerge victorious in state assembly elections in Gujarat in the west, and in Himachal Pradesh in the north.